Oct. 16, 2016

Jer. 31:27-34

Luke 18:1-8

Tom Long is a big name in the world of preaching and homiletics.  I remember reading one of his books as part of my seminary education.  And recently I came across a story he told about Mother Theresa in relation to today’s gospel passage.

Mother Theresa was in New York City to meet with the president and vice president of a large company in an effort to raise money to support her work on behalf of the poorest of the poor in Calcutta.  Before the meeting, however, the two executives had privately agreed not to give her anything.  When they gathered she sat across from them at a very large desk and explained the dire need and the desperate plights of the people in her care.  They listened attentively to her plea and then said, “We appreciate what you do but just cannot commit any funds at this time.”

Mother Theresa said, “Let us pray.”  She then asked God to soften the hearts of these men.  After saying, “Amen,” she renewed her request for support and they renewed their answer that they were not going to commit any money.

“Let us pray,” she said yet again, at which point the executive relented and asked for a checkbook.

Persistence!  That at least is part of the point of today’s passages.  We see it in all the lections for today (even the ones we didn’t read), but it is most pronounced in the gospel, and perhaps not in the most reassuring way.  Jesus talks about praying always and not losing heart, and then he gives this example of an unjust judge who finally relents and grants justice to a widow only because she’s pestered him so much that it is beginning to become a source of embarrassment for him.

We can’t help but hear the story as if God is like that unjust judge, and Jesus is telling us that if we want God to grant our requests we need to pester God into it.  God becomes this reluctant wish-granter who withholds grace until his ego is sufficiently stroked or until the begging measures up to the gravity of the request.

A former parishioner’s son was going in for surgery, and this guy confessed to me that he couldn’t help but think that the child’s medical need was the result of his own lack of faith.  He was worried that the procedure might not go well for his son because he hadn’t been as faithful and as dedicated to his prayer life as he should have been all this time.

That struck me as a horrible burden to carry for my friend as well as an unfortunate theology to let govern one’s mind and heart.

Perhaps today’s passage contributed to that theology.  However, I’ll say that how we’re prone to hearing it isn’t really the way it is intended.  Jesus was using a rhetorical move that was common in his time and received more powerfully than it may be today.  “If X is the case, how much more is it true for Y!?”  If even an unjust and uncaring judge can be persuaded to act on the widow’s behalf, how much more is it the case that a just and caring God will hear your prayers and provide for your needs!”

I think, however, that the problem with this text really arises when we say, “Yes, but I have asked.  I’ve asked many times; I’ve asked with all my heart and soul, but I don’t see the results.  I don’t see what God has done or what God is doing.”

That’s a question that has no easy answers, and it is probably better discussed in a group where we can share our experiences with seeking and finding, or seeking and not finding, as the case may be.

I do have some thoughts, however, that may be of help.  The first is from author, Debbie Thomas, who suggests that we put our questions about unanswered prayer on hold and think instead about what happens to us when prayer becomes a pattern of our lives.  She writes, “When I persist in prayer – really persist, with a full heart, over a long period of time – something happens to me.  My sense of who I am, to whom I belong, what really matters in this life, and why – these things mature and solidify.  My heart grows stronger.  It becomes less fragile and flighty.  Once in a while, it even soars.  And sometimes – here’s the surprise – these good things happen even when I don’t receive the answer I’m praying for.”

I rarely ask for much in my prayers.  This is what I do instead: I close my eyes and I say, “Eternal Beauty, Peaceful Presence, Source of Life, Sacred Love, Holy Spirit, God of us all,” and I say those words until the impact of each sinks in and I am reminded of the One upon whom I am calling.  And then, I try to sit with that God.  I sit quietly with Him (with Her) and I remember the love that surrounds me, and then, as I pray for others, I invite them into that love too.”  I don’t know how God uses these prayers for others, but I know that for me there’s a shift.  I see God, I see myself, and I see others in a less hurried and more sacred way than I’m inclined to otherwise see.

Our Old Testament passage is about persistence as well.  God says, “I’m going to make a new covenant with my people.  The old covenant hasn’t worked so well.  My people haven’t kept it; it isn’t bringing us together.  So, this covenant I will write within them.  I’ll write this covenant on their hearts.  With this covenant I will be their God and they will be my people.  I will know them, and they will know me.”

God here is persistent, not so much in answering prayer requests, but in seeking and offering fellowship with God’s people.  You know, the first Christians didn’t become Christians because it made life easier for them.  In some ways, it added to their difficulties.  But, on the other hand, it made life sacred.  It made life a “God-with” kind of life, and it was far better to have God through the struggles than to not have God.

This brings me to my conclusion and to a quote that I’ve shared with you before and promise to share with you again.  Says Simon Tugwell: “The only solution that God has to offer to all our problems is himself…  God has only the one thing to say, which is himself, he has only the one thing to give, which is himself.  And he invites us to hear that Word, to treasure it in our hearts and to find in it the source of all our bliss.”   That is a solution is that is worth every bit of our persistence.

1 The Christian Century, Sept. 28, 2016, page 21.